The present invention relates to a device for supplying a fuel from a supply tank to an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle.
More particularly, it relates to a device of the above mentioned general type which has an electric drive motor through which fuel flows and which drives an impeller of a supply pump rotating in a pump chamber of the aggregate.
Devices for-supplying fuel of the above mentioned general type are known in the art. One such device is disclosed for example in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,947,149. In the aggregate disclosed in this patent, an inlet opening of a pump chamber opens directly in a ring-shaped supply passage which surrounds the axis of rotation of the impeller. Therefore the aspirated medium disturbs the screw shaped circulating movement which is characteristic for side passage pump and therefore reduces the efficiency of the pump.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device for supplying fuel from a supply tank to an internal combustion engine which avoids the disadvantages of the prior art.
In keeping with these objects and with others which will become apparent hereinafter, one feature of the present invention resides, briefly stated, in a device for supplying fuel from a supply tank to an internal combustion engine, in which the inlet opening opens in a ring region of the pump chamber which is limited on the one hand by a hub part of the impeller and on the other hand by an inner ring edge of the ring-shaped supply channel which surrounds the hub part with a distance therefrom.
When the device is designed in accordance with the present invention, it has the advantage that the inflowing medium flows from inside into the supply passage and into the pump chamber and then transits into the circulating flow by deviating in the radial direction.
When the device is designed in accordance with the present invention, it avoids the disadvantages of the prior art and provides for the highly advantageous results specified hereinabove.
The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.